Phipps Renovation Completed

The Denver Museum of Nature & Science has completed a total
renovation of Phipps Special Exhibits Gallery, the Museum's first
large-scale project funded by the voter-approved Better Denver Bond
Program. Visitors will have their first look inside the newly
renovated gallery when the Museum's next traveling exhibition,
Genghis Khan, opens to the public on October 16.

In order to bring Phipps Gallery up to contemporary museum
standards, the space was completely gutted and re-built between
mid-May and mid-September. Crews installed a new vapor barrier and
new air handling units to control temperature and humidity levels
inside the gallery. These improvements make Phipps Gallery more
comfortable for visitors and create a stable environment for rare
and fragile artifacts featured in the finest traveling
exhibitions.

The entrance to Phipps Gallery has been reconfigured to include
a vestibule, and the gallery's exterior walls are covered in new
wood paneling, giving the gallery a sophisticated look. Just
outside the gallery is 7,500 square feet of new floor space,
providing visitors a bright, spacious area in which to
gather. A new, faster elevator has been installed adjacent to
Phipps Gallery, and two new stairways were built on the south end
of the building, providing improved visitor access to the gallery
and better emergency exits.

The Museum is seeking LEED (Leadership in Energy and
Environmental Design) certification for the Phipps Gallery project.
Construction crews used low-emitting materials in construction, and
the gallery is designed to consume less power overall. In addition,
17,254 pounds of materials from the old gallery were reused in the
new gallery, saving tons of trash from the landfill. The terrazzo
floor covering outside the gallery includes 4,000 pounds of
recycled crushed beer bottles.

The Denver-based firm klipp served as lead architect on the
Phipps Gallery renovation project. Haselden Construction, LLC,
served as the lead contractor. Other contractors on the project
include CB Richard Ellis, BCER Engineering, Inc., Scanlon Szynskie
Group, Inc., and Ambient Energy. The total project cost was
approximately $11 million dollars.

Better Denver and the Denver Museum of Nature &
Science

Denver voters approved approximately $50 million in Better
Denver bond funding for the Museum in 2007. Approximately $19.2
million of the money is being spent to make needed infrastructure
repairs and improvements to the Museum building. The Phipps Gallery
renovation is the largest infrastructure improvement project at the
Museum, and the largest project to be completed thus far in the
Better Denver program.

The remaining $30 million in Better Denver funding will be used
toward the construction of an Education and Collections Facility on
the south end of the Museum building. The new facility will include
a Science Engagement Center to accommodate education programs for
both visitors and school children, and the Rocky Mountain Science
Collections Center, an underground storage area to house the 1.4
million objects in the Museum's collections. The Museum is
currently raising matching funds for this project, and will have an
architectural engineering firm selected for the project by January
2010.

City of Denver-Better Denver Bond Program
The City of Denver's $550 million voter-approved Better Denver
Bond Program is working to preserve, renovate and create amenities
that touch citizen's lives - including roads, libraries, parks,
recreation centers, child care sites, hospitals, public safety,
City buildings and cultural facilities. Over 280 projects are part
of this effort; more than 55 are complete, another 60-plus are in
construction, and many more are in planning or design. The
improvements are scheduled for completion by 2012. Projects
are being accelerated as possible, with many of them slated for
completion by 2011. The Bond Program will pump millions
of dollars into the economy and help to preserve and create jobs
across the region. For more information see www.denvergov.org/betterdenver.

About the Denver Museum of Nature &
Science
The Denver Museum of Nature & Science is the Rocky Mountain
Region's leading resource for informal science education. A variety
of engaging exhibits, discussions and activities help Museum
visitors celebrate and understand the natural wonders of Colorado,
Earth and the universe. The Museum is located at 2001 Colorado
Blvd., Denver, CO, 80205. To learn more about the Museum,
check www.dmns.org, or
call 303-370-6000.

Many of the Museum's educational programs and exhibits are made
possible in part by generous funding from the citizens of the
seven-county metro area through the Scientific & Cultural
Facilities District.